NO PLAIGIRISM1.  What is the topic of your expository essay? How will you focus the topic? Answer: 2.  What is your thesis? Write it in the form of a thesis statement. Answer: 3.  What pattern of organization do you plan to use in your essay? Why did you choose this pattern? Answer: 4.  Write the paragraph outline of your expository essay. It should begin with the title of the essay. It should contain one entry for each paragraph of the essay. Answer: Multimedia Presentation Develop a multimedia presentation that meets the criteria outlined in Part 1 below. Review the criteria for delivering a presentation in Part 2 of this document and follow your teacher’s instructions for presenting your material to an audience. After you have shared your presentation, complete the reflection in Part 3 of this document and submit this document to your teacher for a grade. Your teacher will provide feedback on each step in the process on this document and return it to you. Part 1: Develop a Multimedia Presentation (Score for Question 1: ___ of 35 points) 1.  Develop a multimedia presentation based on your expository essay. The content and design of your presentation materials should meet the criteria below. Your teacher will use the space below to provide feedback about your presentation. Criteria Teacher Feedback Contains 4-5 slides that include an introduction, content slides, and a conclusion Contains text that clearly conveys the most important ideas from the expository essay Uses visual media to clarify or expand on ideas Use structure and formatting to enhance the final product Part 2: Deliver a Multimedia Presentation (Score for Question 2: ___ of 50 points) 2.  After you have developed your presentation, you must deliver it. Read, and be sure you understand, the criteria below: The delivery of your presentation will be graded on it. Then submit or present your project as instructed by your teacher. Your teacher will use the space below to provide feedback about your presentation. Criteria Teacher Feedback The presentation begins with a strong introduction that grabs the listener’s attention and introduces the topic. The details in the presentation consistently develop the topic and the explicit or implicit thesis. The conclusion does an excellent job of restating the main points and/or stirring the emotions of the listener. The speaker elaborates on the slides so that the listener understands their significance. The tone is appropriate for the topic. The speaker varies the pace according to content and uses emphasis to draw attention to phrases and words of importance. The overall impression is positive. The speaker is in control of the subject and of the delivery of the presentation. Part 3: Reflection After your multimedia presentation, complete this reflection and submit it to your teacher for a grade. (Score for Question 3: ___ of 5 points) 3.  Describe how you completed your presentation. What steps did you take to deliver your presentation? Answer: Type your answer here. (Score for Question 4: ___ of 5 points) 4.  After you have shared your presentation, reflect on how effective you think it was in delivering your content. What worked well, and what could you have done better? What would you do differently if you had the opportunity to do it again? Answer: Type your answer here. (Score for Question 5: ___ of 5 points) 5.  In terms of planning and making a presentation for an audience, what did you learn while completing this project? Answer: Type your answer here. THINGS THAT SHOULD HELP Model Paragraph Outline Title: Science Fiction: Exploring New Worlds—And Our World Title: Science Fiction: Exploring New Worlds—And Our World 1.  Introduction: rhetorical question hook; thesis statement 2.  Most important reason: future technology, predictions 3.  Reason next in importance: exploring different possible societies 4.  Reason last in importance: exciting stories by great writers 5.  Conclusion: restate thesis; recommend science fiction to reader Assignment Overview Expository Essay Planning ·  Choose a topic for an expository essay. ·  Develop ideas and information about the topic. ·  Create a plan for your essay, including a thesis, a pattern of organization, and a paragraph outline. ·  Submit the Expository Essay Planning Assignment to your teacher. Your teacher will give you feedback on how suitable your plan is and whether you need to make changes in it before beginning to draft. Drafting ·  Write the first draft of your essay. Use your planning assignment and the feedback that you received from your teacher. ·  Review the First Draft Checklist and the Final Draft Rubric, which appear later in this document. Your first draft will be graded against the checklist, so be sure that your essay contains everything that the checklist requires. Keep the rubric in mind as you draft because your final paper will be graded against the rubric. ·  Submit the Expository Essay First Draft Assignment to your teacher. After reading your essay, your teacher will give you feedback on areas to revise. Finalizing ·  Revise your essay. Use the feedback that you received from your teacher, your mentor, and other readers. Also review the criteria in the Revising an Expository Essay Checklist before revising and as you revise. ·  Keep the criteria listed in the rubric in mind as you revise your paper. The final paper will be graded against this rubric, which assesses the essay in the following five categories: purpose and voice; ideas and content; structure and organization; language, word choice, and tone; and sentences and mechanics. The rubric appears at the end of this document. ·  Proofread your essay. Review and use the criteria in the Proofreading an Expository Essay Checklist. ·  Make a clean, final copy of your expository essay and submit it to your teacher. Multimedia Presentation ·  Develop a multimedia presentation based on your expository essay. Review the criteria for the presentation in the Multimedia Presentation Assignment. ·  Deliver your presentation. Be sure to review the criteria for the delivery of your presentation, also found in the Multimedia Presentation Assignment. Your teacher will give you instructions for submitting and/or delivering your presentation and your presentation materials. ·  Complete the reflection section in the Multimedia Presentation Assignment and submit the assignment to your teacher. Your teacher will give you feedback on how well you met the criteria for developing and delivering your presentation. Time Line Remember you will be working on this project over the course of two different units. The following due dates reflect this schedule. Task Start Complete Complete the Planning an Expository Essay unit. Submit the Expository Essay Planning Assignment. Day 101 Day 105 Start the Writing an Expository Essay unit. Submit the Expository Essay First Draft Assignment. Day 114 Day 115 Continue the Writing an Expository Essay unit. Develop the multimedia presentation. Day 117 Day 118 Revise and proofread the expository essay. Submit the Expository Essay Final Draft Assignment. Day 119 Day 120 Complete the Writing an Expository Essay unit. Finalize and deliver a multimedia presentation. Day 121 Day 124 Grading/Point Values Planning Assignment: 50 First Draft: 100 Final Draft: 200 Multimedia Presentation: 100 Required Final Draft Length Pages: 2–3 pages Word Count: 500–900 Grading Criteria – First Draft Your first draft will be graded on the basis of the checklist below. □  The purpose of the expository essay—to convey information—is evident. □  The voice sounds like a real person. □  The topic is appropriate for an expository essay. □  The essay has a thesis—either stated or implied. □  The ideas and content of the essay support a main idea. □  The essay has a clear beginning, middle, and end. □  The essay has a logical progression of ideas. □  Both the language and tone are appropriate for an expository essay. □  The essay has a variety of sentence beginnings, lengths, and structures. □  The essay has at least 500 words. Total possible points for first draft: 100 points. Grading Criteria – Final Draft Your final draft will evaluated on the basis of the rubric below. Criterion 4 3 2 1 Purpose and Voice The purpose of the writing—to convey information—is evident. The writer's voice is engaging and sounds like a real person. The purpose of the writing—to convey information—is evident. The writer's voice varies between sounding engaging and sounding artificial. The purpose of the writing—to convey information—is usually evident. The writer's voice sounds inconsistent. The purpose of the writing is difficult to determine. The writer's voice is hard to find. Ideas and Content The topic is engaging, and the content is consistently compelling and appropriate. The ideas are focused on a thesis—either stated or implied—and are well developed and creative. The topic is engaging, and the content is somewhat compelling and appropriate. The ideas are focused on a thesis—either stated or implied—and are well developed and mostly interesting. The topic and content are somewhat interesting and mostly appropriate. Some ideas are focused on a thesis and are developed well, but others are not. The topic is not appealing, and the content is not always appropriate. The ideas are not focused on a thesis, and the ideas are largely undeveloped. Structure and Organization The writer does an excellent job in the structure and organization of the essay. The essay begins with a hook that draws in the reader. The body provides details that develop the thesis, and the conclusion satisfies the reader. The organization is clear, and the essay has unity and coherence. Transitions help ideas flow smoothly. The writer does a good job in the structure and organization of the essay. The essay has an introduction, a body that provides details that develop the thesis, and a conclusion that generally satisfies the reader. The writing is organized well and is easy to understand, although some ideas may be misplaced or not flow smoothly because of a lack of transitions. The writer does a fair job in the structure and organization of the essay. The essay may be missing an introduction or a conclusion, leaving the reader feeling dissatisfied. The writing is difficult to follow and ideas do not flow well. There is no clear pattern of organization, and transitions are few.  The writer does a poor job in the structure and organization of the essay. There may be only one long paragraph with no clear introduction, body, or conclusion. The writing is disjointed and difficult to follow. There are few, if any, transitions connecting ideas. Language, Word Choice, and Tone The language and word choice fit the topic. The writer makes excellent use of vivid and precise words. The tone is appropriate for the purpose and audience. The language and word choice mostly fit the topic. The writer uses some precise words, but sometimes lapses into vague language, affecting the clarity of the essay. The tone is mostly appropriate for the purpose and audience. The language and word choice are inconsistent for the topic. Vocabulary consists largely of ordinary words, and the tone is mostly inappropriate for the purpose and audience. The language and word choice are not appropriate for the topic. The language is vague, flat, and dull. The tone is unrecognizable. Sentences and Mechanics The writer uses a variety of sentence beginnings, lengths, and structures. Any fragments are clearly intentional. There are few, The writer uses some sentence variety.  An occasional unintentional fragment or run-on might creep in, but there are few errors in grammar, usage, or mechanics, and these errors do not interfere with understanding. The writer uses unvarying sentences. Unintentional fragments, run-ons, and other grammatical and mechanical errors sometimes interfere with understanding. The sentences all seem to follow the same pattern, and the essay contains many errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics that make the writing difficult to understand. Checklist for Revising an Expository Essay For each question, make notes about your expository essay. 1.  Does your expository essay clearly convey its purpose—to inform or explain? If not, how can you make the purpose clearer from the beginning? Notes: 2.  Does the introductory paragraph draw the reader’s interest? If not, what is uninteresting about the introduction, and how can you make it interesting? Notes: 3.  Do the supporting paragraphs develop the thesis—whether explicit or implicit—using appropriately placed details? If not, where do you need to add details? Where do you need to delete irrelevant or inappropriate details? Notes: 4.  Do the paragraphs have topic sentences and closing sentences? If not, which paragraphs need to be revised? Notes: 5.  Is the essay unified and coherent? If not, what should be changed? Notes: 6.  Do you use transitions effectively? If not, where should you add them? Notes: 7.  Are the voice, tone, and word choices in your essay appropriate for this form and topic? If not, where do they sound inappropriate, and what words or phrases can you substitute? Notes: 8.  Does your expository essay fulfill the length requirement of 1½ to 3 pages, or 500–900 words? If not, how can you trim or expand the paper, as appropriate, without reducing its effectiveness? Notes: Checklist for Proofreading an Expository Essay For each question, make notes about your expository essay. 1.  Does each sentence begin with a capital letter and end with a mark of punctuation? Notes: 2.  Have I spelled all words correctly? Have I looked them up when I wasn’t sure? Notes: 3.  Have I capitalized all proper nouns? Notes: 4.  If I have used dialogue or quotations, have I put the exact words of the speaker in quotation marks? Have I placed the end punctuation mark before the closing quotation mark? Notes: 5.  Have I used commas properly after introductory words and expressions, introductory prepositional phrases of four or more words, and introductory adverb clauses? Notes: 6.  Have I used 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced the paper, and indented the first line of every paragraph? Are my pages numbered? Notes: 7.  Does my paper have a title, correctly spelled and correctly capitalized? Notes: Model Expository Essay Science Fiction: Exploring New Worlds—and Our World   Do you think machines will ever be as smart as people? Does intelligent life exist on other worlds? In fact, are there other worlds at all? Such questions are important, and the place they are discussed most is in the genre of science fiction. Science fiction is fiction that speculates about the future of technology and the nature of society. Along the way, it offers thrilling stories penned by first-rate writers. The combination of prediction, social exploration, and expert story writing makes science fiction a uniquely rewarding genre.   Perhaps the most important gift that science fiction gives readers is the opportunity to think about what kind of future lies ahead. For decades, science fiction authors have described what they foresee for the human species. In some cases the authors have foreseen correctly, such as when Arthur C. Clarke, in the 1940s, predicted the invention of radio satellites. At other times they have foreseen incorrectly, as when many writers, including Nevil Shute in On the Beach and Pat Frank in Alas, Babylon, prophesied nuclear destruction during the twentieth century. However, even when the predictions have been wrong, they have often given useful warnings. For example, the 1980s movie The Terminator showed the danger of machines becoming conscious and destructive. Today, scientists in the field of artificial intelligence are discussing how to avoid a possible takeover by machines.   In addition to glimpses of the future, science fiction makes us think about our society by depicting societies that are very different from it. For example, in The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin depicts a planet named Gethen, on which the inhabitants have different genders from the ones we humans have. Le Guin explores the effects that a different set of genders could have on the way a culture develops. In another example Star Trek presents a galaxy-wide federation in which all races are equal—both human and nonhuman—and people work for personal fulfillment rather than money. By showing alternate paths in civilization, both Le Guin and the creators of Star Trek make audiences think about what kind of society they themselves would like to have.   Another strength of science fiction is that, at its best, it provides exciting stories written by excellent writers. Some science fiction writers have taken their place among America’s most celebrated authors. Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and many other books, was awarded the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Octavia E. Butler received a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Philip K. Dick’s work is studied by literary critics and philosophers and has been adapted for opera and theater, as well as for films such as Blade Runner and Total Recall. As readers and viewers of such works know, good science fiction writers not only write well but also create high-interest tales that appeal to a large audience. My favorite example is Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game. It’s about super-intelligent teens who are specially educated to become generals in a war against extraterrestrials. It’s the most exciting coming-of-age story I’ve ever read, and what’s more, it examines serious themes concerning education, war, and morality.   Finally, science fiction presents a combination of adventure and thought-provoking speculation that no other kind of fiction can duplicate. By imagining other worlds and possible futures, science fiction authors cast a bright light on the world in which we currently live. So, if you are searching for great writing, thrilling tales, and original ideas, try some science fiction. You may end up loving it as much as I do!